6 min readNew Delhi IAug 6, 2022 09:30 AM IST
First published on: Aug 3, 2022 at 06:03 PM IST
Irrespective of the subject that anyone pursues in college, UPSC Civil Services Exam has been the first choice for most government job seekers in India. While the popular notion is that humanities students have an edge over those with science or commerce backgrounds in college, data shows that engineers have been more successful in one of the toughest exams in the country over the years.
Experts weighed in whether graduation subjects help those preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Exam. While some pointed out that all aspirants have to start from the basics, others said those with a science background have a bit of an edge since they already have been through the gruelling task of facing competitive exams.
More opting for humanities in college
In recent years, authorities at universities like DU and Mumbai university have observed a surge in the number of students applying for BA programmes and honours courses with arts subjects in focus.
Explaining this trend, Seema Das, professor of Political Science at DU’s Hindu College, said, “Two subjects — History and Political Science — which are in the UPSC Civil Service Mains syllabus, are both covered by joining BA Programme. We have seen that this has become the most sought-after combination. The majority of my students are preparing for Civil Services”.
Sajal Singh, the founder of Civilsdaily, also said that the graduation subject augments a strong base for UPSC Civil Service Mains preparation.
“Having a graduation subject as an optional is clearly a day zero advantage. Meaning you have a solid base the moment you start your preparation. One could argue that toppers like Tina Dabi, a Political Science graduate, and Shruti Sharma, a History graduate, had an advantage. But there is no denying the fact that most optional toppers are from an engineering background. This tells us that optional subjects can be prepared even if one is not graduating in that subject,” added Singh.
‘It’s a flat world’
Sriram Srirangam, the founder-director of SRIRAM’s IAS, said that students from all academic backgrounds have equal chances of cracking the Civil Services because all of them—an engineer or humanities student—have to start their preparation from scratch.
“It is a flat world when you are competing for the Civil Services. The opportunities are equal and everyone has to begin near zero. A humanities student who studies Economics, History or Geography in graduation may have an upper hand at the initial head start but eventually, they have to read science and technology as well. Hence, it neutralises the effect for main preparation,” said Sriram.
But 2016-batch IAS officer Jitin Yadav said that when it comes to writing skills, humanities students have an edge over those who pursued science subjects. Yadav, a Physics (Hons) graduate from St. Stephens College, said that the graduation subject can be of more help when candidates prepare for the optional papers.
“Whether the humanities students have an actual edge or not only stats can tell. But an upper view shows us that nowadays aspirants plan their optional subject in advance. That is why the demand for subjects like Sociology, Political Science etc has risen in recent years,” he pointed out.
More engineers on the merit list
UPSC CSE 2022: Here’s last 10 years data
Data available on the DoPT website shows that the number of engineers qualifying for the UPSC Civil Service exam has gone up in the last 10 years.
Shabbir Bashir, the co-founder of test-prep platform Edukemy, is also of the view that science students have a better chance of cracking the exam. “The field of science and technology is highly competitive and thus students from science backgrounds learn the art to handle the pressure and excel at competitive exams early on. They learn the right tricks and techniques to grasp concepts and remember them. This gives them an edge over students from other backgrounds,” explained Bashir.
“While UPSC does not discriminate between students from various backgrounds, students preparing for the exam may find the preparation difficult or easy, depending on the kind of skills they imbibed during their graduation years,” he added.
Roshan Shekhar, a UPSC aspirant from Ranchi and an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, agreed with the view. “While preparing for JEE, engineering aspirants go through a similar kind of pressure as CSE. This somehow does give us an advantage in terms of dealing with the competitiveness in the exam. However, academically I do not see any such precedence,” shared Shekhar.
Choosing relevant graduation subject
Explaining the importance of graduation subject in UPSC preparation, Civilsdaily’s Singh said aspirants should not be “myopic when choosing” them.
“Candidates should choose a subject that they are passionate about. The preferred choice should be a subject they can build a career around with skills that are relevant to the market. The UPSC exam can be tricky. In case it doesn’t work out, it will be the graduation subject that will help an aspirant kickstart the career,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jamia Millia Islamia Residential Coaching Academy’s deputy director Mohammed Tariq said that a student’s performance in the graduation subject does play an important role during UPSC preparation.
“We have seen toppers like Shruti Sharma, who performed exceptionally well with a History Honours background, and also students from IITs performing at par. It all depends on how well a student performs academically. Hence, seriousness right from the graduation level is important,” added Tariq.
Experts weighed in whether graduation subjects help those preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Exam. (Graphics by Abhishek Mitra) 
UPSC CSE 2022: Here’s last 10 years data
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